2026 turkey season!

[GeoSwan]

Southern Oregon public Jake and Tom.

The hot winter front loaded the breeding cycle down here so we focused on corridors and caught a couple moving through.

Headed out for bear next.

[millerwheeler]

Caught a couple
Slipping  this morning  right before I had to leave and after a miss yesterday ! Felt great

[pickardjw]

@pickardjw You are on a roll!  Headed to Spokane County now to get the 3rd?

Sorry, was a little vague typing on the phone. Second bird was a buddy's that I "guided" him into. AKA we sat the morning together in my preferred spot since he had to leave for family thing in the afternoon, so he was primary shooter.

Called one in Wednesday to about 8 yards. Buddy was not ready, realized his trigger finger doesn't fit in the trigger guard with his gloves on. This bird also came SPRINTING in. Never experienced that before. We heard pitter-pattering footsteps and I was about to tell him to get ready when the bird popped around the tree. Color drained from its face and he boogied away as my buddy tried to shake his glove off haha. Too late! If he had come in slower and chatty it would've been a done deal...

Called another in a couple hours later on Wednesday but he outsmarted us and went high instead of low. Never saw the deke, only within range for a second and kept trees and brush in between us.

But that second pictured bird flew down from the roost right to the deke and put on a show. Was stoked to give my buddy the full experience of a drumming and spitting bird! I think this bird may have taken the place as dominant tom from the wet bird I shot on opener. 250 yards away from that first bird spot, shorter beard, nubs for spurs.

[trophyhunt]

Son in law got his first real tom, then an hour later, we doubled.

[trophyhunt]

I’m not that good at understanding turkey behavior, so what happened here. Sitting in my blind this morning, 6 Jake’s come to the decoy, fart around and one starts gobbling.  He brings in two massive toms gobbling and strutting but 75 yards away. The Jake’s walk over to the two toms and they all turn around and walk away!!! I called when they turned away, and they just kept walking away! WTH!!!  Big Tom’s!  Did I screw up somehow??  Only have two decoys, do I need more? Deeks are a male and female turkey

[hunter399]

Heck ya !
Congratulations 👏
Good year for turkey hunting.

[GeoSwan]

I’m not that good at understanding turkey behavior, so what happened here. Sitting in my blind this morning, 6 Jake’s come to the decoy, fart around and one starts gobbling.  He brings in two massive toms gobbling and strutting but 75 yards away. The Jake’s walk over to the two toms and they all turn around and walk away!!! I called when they turned away, and they just kept walking away! WTH!!!  Big Tom’s!  Did I screw up somehow??  Only have two decoys, do I need more? Deeks are a male and female turkey

Was it 9am? It seems like that’s when hens leave Toms and then the toms and Jake’s form bachelor groups. Stay patient in your blind and it should fire back up at 4. Call lightly and sparingly to emulate an un bred hen to maybe bring a Tom in but later in the afternoon they will return to their strut areas. You could go sit on wooded corridors in the mean time and try to catch the group coming through until about 3, when you should return to your blind a start getting more aggressive with your calls.

[trophyhunt]

I’m not that good at understanding turkey behavior, so what happened here. Sitting in my blind this morning, 6 Jake’s come to the decoy, fart around and one starts gobbling.  He brings in two massive toms gobbling and strutting but 75 yards away. The Jake’s walk over to the two toms and they all turn around and walk away!!! I called when they turned away, and they just kept walking away! WTH!!!  Big Tom’s!  Did I screw up somehow??  Only have two decoys, do I need more? Deeks are a male and female turkey

Was it 9am? It seems like that’s when hens leave Toms and then the toms and Jake’s form bachelor groups. Stay patient in your blind and it should fire back up at 4. Call lightly and sparingly to emulate an un bred hen to maybe bring a Tom in but later in the afternoon they will return to their strut areas. You could go sit on wooded corridors in the mean time and try to catch the group coming through until about 3, when you should return to your blind a start getting more aggressive with your calls.

it was about 8 , just had two hens and another small Jake walk by.  Been a good morning so far , thank you for the advice.

[trophyhunt]

Should we not call anymore once the birds see our decoys?

[GeoSwan]

Should we not call anymore once the birds see our decoys?

I’ll do soft purrs and clucks indicating contentment

[trophyhunt]

Should we not call anymore once the birds see our decoys?

I’ll do soft purrs and clucks indicating contentment

major F up just 2 hours ago, two nice toms came in, they went right past my hen decoy and heading straight for 4 Jake’s that were across the field.  I thought I reach out to them, nocked one down, he got up and walked fast away, never found him.  Do you think they’ll be gone forever now!?

[Ridgeratt]

A wounded turkey makes great feed for the coyotes and crows. Chances of him coming back is slim to none. But go shoot or wound another one. There's lots of them.

[trophyhunt]

A wounded turkey makes great feed for the coyotes and crows. Chances of him coming back is slim to none. But go shoot or wound another one. There's lots of them.

never wounded one before, hesitated on putting it on here. They didn’t seem to care about the shot at all. He looked healthy walking away.  Next time I’ll know better to let it all play out, they seem to do odd stuff, I’m sure eventually I’d have gotten a better shot.

[zwickeyman]

My son with his first and me with a stud 4 year old ( 11" beard and 1 1/4 spurs )

North Idaho

[baldopepper]

Picked this bird out couple days before the hunt and made him my target bird.  Honestly passed on a few others but find it's more fun to just pick one out and go after just that one.  Took 3 days before his secret service trained hens let him make a mistake. Knew he'd be a challenge but lotta fun getting outsmarted a couple times before getting him in your sights